Merchant of Death
by Annie-marie6
Summary: Once Tony was known as the Merchant of Death, but everyone had forgotten why. BAMF Tony, he doesn't like people that try to hurt his team... and as for the team, Loki's magic goes wonky and they read all about it.


**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Violence, mentions of rape, slash and het, mpreg mentions and a ridiculously happy ending, enjoy.**

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"I wish we knew some of his past," Natasha said irritated. Tony had played her, had played them all really. Then again, what did one expect from a genius. Even so you should refrain from making wishes in the presence of the God of Chaos.

"Brother?" Thor questioned eyeing the book that sat clearly on the coffee table. Loki just looked at it surprised, not knowing exactly why his power had worked. Only that it had.

"I am the God of Chaos," he reminded them in an odd voice, "This will cause chaos on an unprecedented level. Chose wisely if you are to read it or not, because once you do there will be no turning back."

"I think we should read it," Steve said, but he was frowning, hesitant even. But the book taunted them, because there was no one in this tower that could say that they knew, _truly knew_ Anthony Edward Stark and so Natasha picked up the book and they read.

**"I want your team of freaks," the man said. He was military, greying and bitter about the world moving on to a place that he couldn't fight. Couldn't match. Tony's stomach churned in disgust. This man, General Ross**

"Wait!" Bruce shouted, "General Ross? What? He's after all of us now?" The sometimes man ran fingers through his thick hair in frustration. Just when Bruce had finally thought he was free. Clint explained whom Ross was to the others that didn't know.

**He had made the worst mistake he could have ever made, asking for weapons, for money… that could have been let slide. Kidnapping Pepper Potts and asking for Tony to murder his own team… well bad idea.**

"Ah, so that's where the man of Iron has gone," Loki said, but even he could not hide a small wisp of worry floating past his mask at the idea of the bubbly red head CO that had the amazing talent of finding good in almost anyone and the genius that had pulled them all into his home.

"Why wouldn't he of asked for back up?" Steve demanded.

"I guess we'll find out," Natasha said grimly.

**"No," Tony said interrupting the man's sickening speech. The general looked startled, as if he weren't expecting to have another reaction other than submission. They hadn't taken into account that the first time he'd made the suit, the first time he'd installed the arc reactor in his chest, he was being kept in a cave by terrorists that were repeatedly torturing him to make a Jericho missile, with an electro-magnet hooked up to a car battery keeping a cluster of shrapnel out of his heart.**

"I'm sorry what?" Steve exploded into panic. There was a stunned silence; nobody knew that he had made the proto-type then.

"It must have been when he was kidnapped in Afghanistan," Clint said dazed.

"Just keep reading," Bruce said, seeing the greenish glimmer in the mans eyes, the former Russian spy did as she was told.

**"I beg your pardon?" Ross asked in a confused voice, "You don't seem to understand, we have Virginia Potts and failure to comply will result in her death." The problem was that Tony had been in the game for far to long and he knew a lie when he heard one. That was the thing about Pepper, the only way they would have taken her anywhere to use as leverage against the really incredibly dysfunctional family of Gods, Super soldiers, Assassins, scientists, and geniuses… was in a body bag.**

"No," Natasha said interrupting herself; both women had become close friends after her (seemingly, yet not) infiltration of Stark Industries. After a few moments pause she read again, desperate not to believe that her friend was dead. Despite her gut feeling otherwise.

"It still isn't happening," he retorted.

"Is he really choosing us over her?" Loki asked baffled, then again he was able to count the exact number of times he had been put first.

"It seems so brother," Thor said unusually quiet for the thunder god.

**"You would save them over the one that you are in love with," Ross asked incredulously.**

"That is what I thought," Steve murmured, there was another alternative but that was to crazy to even contemplate.

**"I am saving the ones I'm in love with," came the swift response. The other man looked disgusted.**

"No way," Clint said, Natasha had even dropped the book. Okay, Steve thought, maybe it isn't to crazy.

"He… he loves _us_," Bruce said with disbelief.

"It seems so," Loki conceded, "The question is how do we feel about that." There were blushes and tell tale signs that while not all of them knew how to handle it. They were perfectly okay with the genius loving them.

**"All of them?" he questioned looking nauseated; he received a nod in return. "What of your girlfriend?"**

"Yes, what of the Lady Pepper," Thor asked frowning, "I thought that you were all had relationships of two people."

"You know that you don't have to call her Lady, right Thor?" Clint asked.

"Clearly you have not seen her wielding a fry pan," he replied seriously, causing everyone to crack up, despite the tense situation.

"**Not my girlfriend," Tony said keeping his tone light, "Why does everyone always think she's my girlfriend?" The last question seemed more directed to himself. **

If anyone, particularly Darcy Lewis had been in the room at that moment, Facebook would have a shiny knew picture of all the Avengers, plus a former-villain face-palming.

"Tony," Natasha cried, irritated about how someone so smart could miss something that fucking obvious.

"**We will kill her," the other man insisted. The abandoned bar was filled with soldiers, but they weren't military. Guns for hire, so that it could be kept off the record Tony concluded. That was good. It meant that they weren't just innocents following orders.**

"What does the difference have to do with anything?" Bruce asked, "It sounds like he's about to do something life-threatening and stupid."

"Bruce it's Tony," Steve said, "He's always about to do something life-threatening and stupid." The room murmured in agreement.

"**The thing is, I'm still not going to kill my team," Tony said, "So the question is, where do we go from here."**

"Good question," Clint muttered. They were at an impasse; neither were willing to budge on their stance.

"**And what does Miss Potts think about you abandoning her life to save a bunch of freaks?" General Ross sneered. Tony managed a chilling smile that had some of the men adjust the stance and made sure that they would have no trouble reaching for there guns.**

"I can't believe that Tony could look really threatening without the Ironman suit," Steve admitted.

"I'm more worried about his comment about Pepper," Bruce confessed, "What he said, about loving us… I don't mind, uh, quiet the opposite really but I didn't even stop and think about Pepper."

"Just a question," Steve asked, "Who is okay, or more than okay with Tony loving us all?" Everyone raised their hands.

"What about you?" Thor asked.

"Freaked out," he responded, "But… its kind of, well nice. I don't think that I would want him… not to." The man out of time was flushed red but we can excuse him, he is from the forties. So this is probably all a bit much.

"**I believe that her exact words were to save them, or she'd staple my nuts to a chair," he replied. It was the absolute truth. "We aren't getting anywhere so. What. Do. You. Want?"**

"So, I'm guessing that that answers the question," Natasha said blandly, but internally they all felt a small spark, some much more than a spark, of happiness.

"**I want justice against those abominations," Ross hissed. If he'd been paying attention to the look on Tony's face, would have sent him running.**

"I still can't picture it," Thor said, "Tony had always been, sort of…"

"The technical term is cute," Natasha said with a saucy grin that spread contagiously.

"**You want a massacre," Tony said in a deadly flat voice.**

"Do you think that he'll?" Bruce ventures, he didn't finish but everyone knew what he was asking.

"I threw him out of a window and he was fine," Loki said trying to reassure them all. It worked a little bit, but everyone was still worried.

"**Call it what you will," the General snorted, "The end result is the same." **

"Yeah," Steve said bitterly, "A pile of dead bodies. Has this guy always been such a…."

"Yeah," Bruce said dangerously close to hulking out.

"**Are you sure?" Tony asked him, making sure to look him in the eyes, "Is a massacre really what you want, be sure." For some reason the man beside him thought that he had finally won the man over, a fanatical gleam entered his eyes and he let out a hearty chuckle.**

"Oh brilliant, he's insane," Clint sighed, "Why is it all the crazy ones come after us." If it were not for the fact that a God would never do anything so un-dignifying (which is a lie, you should see Thor after someone eats the last poptart) the look on Loki's face could only be called a pout.

"**Yes," he said still laughing, "Yes. Yes! YES!" He bubbled with joy and for a second, a sweet, sweet second he'd thought he'd won. Tony swirled the remained of the scotch in his glass around before draining it, a shark's smile on his lips.**

"Isn't that?" questioned Thor.

"I think it is," replied Loki.

"What?" Bruce asked.

"The look on his face before that psychotic fangirl plastic surgeon that was making people look like us so she could live out her dream life and lock them in the basement when she was done playing with them, disappeared," Loki said. There were some strange thoughts but no one thought anything remotely close to the truth.

"**Then I'd be happy to oblige," he replied candidly, the concealed long knife he had on his person sunk into the man's stomach carving a bloody mess out of it. Enough to ensure his certain death, but little enough that he'll lay in agony and a pool of his own cooling blood before he did. **

"What?!" they screamed.

"That's what it says," Natasha said shivering, "And he only get more violent. Does anyone else think that it's kind of?"

"Psychopathic?" Steve threw in.

"Hot," she finished, "What? It is." She defended herself when some of them looked at her strangely. The Asgardian's agreed with her completely.

**Shots fires and he leapt up, stabbing the one closest and holding their motionless body as a shield against the hail of bullets coming his way. Rage burned, bubbling out of every pore.**

"So guys," Clint said in a joking voice, "I get the feeling that there's something that Tony isn't telling us." There were some almost chuckles and light groans at that.

**They were torn apart. That knife, that one sharp little knife rendered limbs and bones in half. It created space for hand to reach in and yank their insides out. The one man that voiced his opinion on the _'Pretty little ginger being a good fuck, once they'd gotten her tied down good an' proper' _found his spinal cord on the other side of the room.**

"I'll fucking kill them," Natasha said standing up and dumping the book on the floor, going off on a rant in Russian. The parts that were in English were every bit as scary as what they were going through.

"Natasha," Bruce said, "I think there a little bit to dead for you to hurt them." She huffed, scooped up the book and read.

**Then it was over. Blood and gore coated the wall, the floor, everywhere. Tony's hands were caked elbow deep, it speckled the side of his face, but he ignored it. The smell of death, the mess, the screaming of General Ross whose death was still hours yet to come and made for the walk in freezer.**

"Good," came the dual response of Bruce and Natasha.

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Steve asked. Bruce turned to him and sighed.

"I didn't try to be a super soldier, I just volunteered so the poor uniformed bastard that they had pulled off the street didn't have to and then he threw it all back on me," he explain, "Hunting me down for years, trying to get it out of me and into someone that takes orders. It didn't matter that I was dating his daughter before this. To him I should be dead."

**She was there, Pepper. Bruised, battered, raped and… dead.**

It was quiet some time until composure could be regained. They had liked this woman, she had been there throughout it all and now… now she was _gone._

**Almost in a trace Tony turned around and picked up his three thousand dollar suit jacket and wrapped it around her small fragile body. Taking her home, there'd be a funeral. Grieving and mourning, but that would all come later.**

"I'm sure that it did," Steve said in a cracked voice, "But not now."

"Never now," Thor agreed, shivering at the harm that had befallen the sweet but still slightly scary woman.

**Later came the man, the man with the single eye. The scene made his stomach churn, and Ross was still alive. He gave that man his final message.**

"Fury," Clint said in a tight voice, "What is he going to do?" Worry for what could happen to Tony, because screw those bastards they deserved it, filled everyone in the room.

**"He never raised his voice, that was the worst bit," Ross said in a scratchy desperate voice, as he bleed out, "The fury of the Merchant of Death and then I understood why. Why this man, who'd fought with Gods and aliens and demons, why he'd taken his team and hidden. He was being kind. We wanted to have a massacre. So Tony Stark made sure that we did."**

There was a shiver that passed around the room.

"What was that world you used to describe Tony's actions?" Loki asked Natasha, "Oh yes, hot. That was definitely hot."

"Figures you're the one who get off on a power trip," Clint responded.

"I see I'm not the only one," he pointed out. The archer, and others around the room flushed.

**Now Nick Fury had been around Tony Stark since he had been born. Hell he was even his godfather and he had known that this was exactly what he was capable of. Howard Stark was a good friend, but he was a fuck all excuse for a father.**

"But… but Howard?" Steve questioned.

"You heard him, good friend, bad father," Natasha said, "I'm more scared over the fact the Fury is Tony's godfather."

"You and me both," Bruce muttered.

**And all this was made possible because of the way he had been to that boy. Still Nick reasoned, it was damn hard to get Tony this protective over you and if the Avengers had managed that then all the better. After all anything that came after them is usually bad news on an epic scale.**

"I like this idea," Thor said seriously, "It keeps Tony out of trouble."

"So it does," Clint responded, "Does anyone else feel warm and tingly over him being so protective over us?"

**A bullet snaked cleanly through the general's head and his last words were left off the record.**

"So maybe Fury does care," Natasha muttered in surprise. That opened up a whole lot of new avenues and explained why he was so damn adamant that we found a cure for the arc reactor poisoning.

**This wasn't the first time this had happened in a result of someone with the resources and potential to kill the Avengers and it wouldn't be the last because Tony loved them, even if they wouldn't ever love him back like that he'd still protect them and that… that was okay.**

"Okay, I don't know about the rest of you but I plan on going for it," Loki said and after a few moments he was met with agreements.

"So we share?" Steve asked with a heavy blush.

"We share," confirmed Natasha with a wicked smirk, "What did you have in mind Captain?" He, if possible got even redder.

**Before he was Ironman, Tony Stark had been known as the Merchant of Death, funny thing is, most people have forgotten why.**

The book had only just been placed down when Tony walking a mess.

"Pepper, she's…" he started to say.

"We know," Bruce said, "Thanks to some questions and Loki's magic acting up… we know everything." The man looked like he was about to bolt, when he was pulled into the lounge.

"And it's fine," Steve reassured. They spent that night taking care of there new acquisition, and grieving together. The next morning when Fury stalked in to find his superhero team curled up on the floor sleeping, sans clothes he cursed, dropped the folder on the coffee table and left.

There life was pretty fantastic after that, but it would take to long to write it all down. They all had a bunch of kids, which due to magic meant everyone got a turn. It was still a toss up on who was worse, pregnant Natasha or pregnant Bruce.

Tony still went on his little rampages, whenever someone threatened his family and eventually they adopted baby spiderman. Life was good, and so it would continue to be until it was over.

_The end._

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**Well that was slightly strange even for me. I needed to get something out before I could focus on the next chapter of Demigod or Just God. So review and tell me all about how I mentally scared you for life and let me know if I should write anymore wacky dark-light-dark-dark-dark-light oneshots?**


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